


The Unwavering Nature of Truth

by arabmorgan



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-01-18 06:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12383070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arabmorgan/pseuds/arabmorgan
Summary: Seongwoo likes Daniel. Daniel likes Seongwoo. Daniel and Seongwoo are dating.Now if someone (anyone!) would justbelievethat, Seongwoo's life wouldn't be so incredibly hard.





	The Unwavering Nature of Truth

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a 5 + 1, but I ran out of hyungline, so I guess it's a 4 + 1? Or something.

The day Kang Daniel asked him out was, to date, the happiest day of Seongwoo’s life.

It had all happened rather unexpectedly, really. Not that Seongwoo was complaining, of course. He supposed it was the very unexpectedness of it that made everything feel so _real_ – well, that and the fact that Daniel pulled away from him about three seconds into their first kiss in order to tell him, ever so gently, “You’ve really been eating _way_ too many onion rings, hyung.”

Seongwoo might have been insulted had he not been a _little_ too preoccupied with the way Daniel’s nose was scrunched up in a way that made Seongwoo want to pinch his cheeks and coo.

At any rate, that was how Seongwoo’s first real relationship started – in his third year of university, on the lumpy couch of his dorm room, with a botched first kiss and, perhaps, too few onion rings left in the bowl on his lap.

Now if only everyone else would actually _believe_ in the existence of their relationship, his life would be perfect.

Getting people to believe that they were dating wasn’t usually a problem that new couples had. Seongwoo, however, was no ordinary person – in fact, he had a bit of a _dark past_. One that only existed amongst his small group of friends, which made everything _that_ much harder.

It had to do with the fact that he had somehow built up the reputation of being, well, a chronic fake dater – one who had, for various reasons, managed to fake date his way through most of his friend circle in the span of about two years.

(In fact, he had fake broken up with none other than Hwang Minhyun less than six months before Daniel finally got around to asking him out properly.)

It wasn’t like he had _intended_ for all these fake relationships to happen – _really_. Still, it probably shouldn’t have surprised him so much when he finally realised that literally _no one_ believed that Daniel was actually the real deal.

.

.

.

**i.**

Minhyun looked almost disappointed when he set eyes on the two of them, which was not an expression Seongwoo was used to seeing, especially when directed at someone like Daniel.

“And the last one bites the dust,” Minhyun said after a moment, and this time the amusement in his expression was clearer as he shook his head in mock disappointment. “We were _holding_ out for you, Niel. You used to be the only one Ong hadn’t gotten his hands on.”

“Hey!” Seongwoo protested automatically, mouth dropping open to show exactly how appalled he was. “I take offense at that, Hwang Minhyun. _Everyone_ wants my hands on them.”

Minhyun cringed like he had just tasted something immensely sour. “ _Please_ don’t remind me of those dark days,” he said dryly.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Seongwoo continued, dropping his books carelessly on the desk, “my hands on you cannot be compared to my hands on Daniel. I mean, we weren’t even really dating – I literally only put my arm around your waist like, three times.”

Minhyun made another face, this time a mix of horror and confusion, like he wasn’t sure which of Seongwoo’s sentences to focus on first. “I don’t think I want to think about your hands on Niel either, thanks very much. Beside, it’s not like _you_ two are really dating either.”

Seongwoo’s mind actually went blank for a second, because – _what_?

As if from a distance, he heard Daniel’s voice, protesting earnestly, “But, hyung, we _are_!”

Minhyun looked at Daniel pityingly, shaking his head as he went back to his essay. “It’s okay, Niel. I _really_ don’t need to know what’s going on between you two, especially if it means Ong is going to talk about you two getting _handsy_ with each other. Our friendship has its limits, you know.”

“Wait,” Seongwoo sputtered stupidly. “But we _are_ dating. Like, you know, going out?”

Minhyun raised a brow, half his attention already diverted back to his laptop (and that was when Seongwoo knew that the battle was already lost). “I _know_. I went out with you too, remember?”

“ _No_ ,” Seongwoo groaned, physically burying his face in his hands. “Not in the _same way_. _You_ were trying to get out of being harassed by your hundred and one fangirls, if you recall.”

“Listen.” Minhyun looked up, exasperated, and somehow managed to look down his nose at them from his seated position anyway. “This is a study session, so _study_. I have a paper to submit in three hours, and if I miss the deadline I’m going throttle both of you right here. Three hours, and _then_ we can talk about your budding romance, okay?”

Seongwoo exchanged a look of bemusement with Daniel and sighed.

.

.

.

**ii.**

If Seongwoo happened to be the kind of guy who got dead drunk at parties and had to be dragged home practically unconscious – he was not, just to be clear, but _if_ he was – there was no one he’d trust more to send him home safe and sound than Yoon Jisung. Jisung was just reliable that way.

But right then, with Daniel out of the house on an impromptu grocery run (because his stash of gummies had unfortunately run out), Jisung was suddenly looking anything but motherly. In fact, he looked a little like he was contemplating how to blend Seongwoo into little pieces without being incarcerated for it.

“I want to make something very clear,” Jisung said sternly, his eyes narrowed in a way that Seongwoo might usually have found amusing, but presently found immensely sinister. “I don’t like what you’re doing with Daniel.”

Seongwoo felt his blood run cold. What _exactly_ did Jisung know about what he was doing with Daniel? Sure, they had spent some time canoodling on Daniel’s bed, and granted, Jisung shouldn’t have any say about what they did or didn’t do in their relationship, but he _was_ Daniel’s housemate and oldest childhood friend, and Daniel would be heartbroken if –

“I don’t know if you know this,” Jisung continued relentlessly, heedless of the panic-stricken thoughts running amok through Seongwoo’s head, “but Daniel likes you. He really, _really_ likes you. This fake dating thing is going to mess him up a lot more than it’s going to affect _you_. Look, Seongwoo, I –”

Seongwoo’s jaw dropped. “We’re _dating_!” he interrupted loudly, and with full offense. “I have no intentions of _messing_ him up or anything like that.”

Jisung stared at him like he had just grown another head. “I _know_ you’re dating. I don’t know why or how – I’m a bit disappointed Daniel didn’t come to me for help first, honestly – but the thing is –”

“No, I mean we’re _really_ dating. Daniel asked me _out_ ,” Seongwoo insisted. He literally couldn’t believe that this was happening (again).

“Well, if you want to get technical, I suppose _I_ asked you out too,” Jisung said, cracking a smile that crinkled his eyes for the first time. “You don’t have to be shy about it, Seongwoo. I know you have good intentions, but I just want to make sure Daniel doesn’t get hurt.”

“But _hyung_ ,” Seongwoo groaned, “we were just trying to get couple discounts at your favourite café for that one semester. It’s not the _same_.”

“ _Obviously_ ,” Jisung snorted, and he was so clearly on a different wavelength from Seongwoo that Seongwoo wanted to cry in despair. “I don’t think Daniel is as obsessed with food discounts as I am.”

Seongwoo didn’t even know if there was any point in continuing the conversation. The moment he heard Daniel’s key in the lock, he shot to his feet like someone had lit a fire beneath his chair.

“I have to go help Daniel with the bags. Good talk, hyung,” he muttered, long legs carrying him out of the kitchen as fast as he could manage.

Jisung trailed after him cheerily. “Sure. We can always continue later!”

.

.

.

**iii.**

“Don’t you have better things to do than to bother your customers while they’re on a date?” Daniel said teasingly, eyes fixed on Jaehwan despite the foot that he had hooked not-so-surreptitiously around Seongwoo’s ankle.

Jaehwan let out a short (but terrifying nonetheless) laugh. “Oh _please_ , as if you guys don’t love me,” he said airily. “I always give you extra ice cream.”

“That’s true. Sometimes I wonder how you manage to stay employed here,” Seongwoo mused, looking down at his generous double scoop of cookies and cream.

Jaehwan shrugged, looking quite unbothered. “Must be my stunning good looks. My boss is smitten with me, you know,” he said slyly, looking delighted when Daniel abruptly choked on the ice cream he had just been gulping down.

Seongwoo grinned. “Get _real_. You’re just cheap labour, Kim Jaehwan.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Jaehwan rolled his eyes. “I’m not here to talk about me. I’m here to talk about _you_. The plural you. The ‘Ongniel’ you.”

Seongwoo grimaced. “Ongniel? _Seriously_? You couldn’t come up with something better?”

Jaehwan raised his brows, and Seongwoo immediately regretted challenging him. “Would you prefer ‘Danwoo,’ maybe?” he said, knowing full well that Seongwoo would _not_.

“Anyway,” he continued, knowing that he had rendered both Daniel and Seongwoo speechless (but mostly just Seongwoo; Daniel was speechless only because he was too busy consuming his ice cream). “So, what’s up with you two? Is this a political move to create a new power couple? One of you going to run for President of the dance club or something? A bid to pull in the votes?”

Seongwoo blinked, feeling the sudden and uncomfortable sensation of déjà vu wash over him. Glancing over at Daniel, he saw his boyfriend staring in owlish disbelief at Jaehwan as well. Jaehwan only looked back at them serenely, utterly immune to the suddenly strange atmosphere.

“No…” Seongwoo said slowly and carefully, just in case Jaehwan didn’t get it. “We’re _dating_. For real. Because we _like_ each other.”

Jaehwan stared at him with large, solemn eyes for a full two seconds, and then he let out an excited cackle. “Sure, sure, I _get it_ ,” he said, with all the air of someone being let in on a very large secret. “You’re dating. For _real_. That’s the word in public, I _know_. You’ve kept my secret for me, so I’ve got your back, hyung.”

And then, horror of horrors, he threw a conspiratorial wink Seongwoo’s way. For just a moment, Seongwoo couldn’t help wondering very seriously if he was cursed with stupid friends or something.

“You literally asked me to date you so you could get more Instagram followers,” Seongwoo said flatly, “and I only did it because I lost that dumb bet.”

Jaehwan hesitated, eyes darting between Daniel and Seongwoo with uncharacteristic nervousness. “Is that…what’s happening here?” he stage-whispered. “Who’s the one who lost the bet though?”

Daniel snorted and went back to his ice cream, heartlessly leaving Seongwoo alone on the frontlines.

“ _No_. I mean, the situations aren’t exactly _equivalent_ , Jaehwan,” Seongwoo groaned, resisting the very strong urge to smush his face into his cup of ice cream. “I like Daniel. Daniel likes me. We are _dating_.”

“You do know my follower count went up by a whole _thousand_ after we pretended to date?” Jaehwan said brightly.

.

.

.

**iv.**

To be accosted by Ha Sungwoon in the middle of a frat party was just about the last thing Seongwoo expected. Or rather, to have his _boyfriend_ accosted by a very tipsy Ha Sungwoon while Seongwoo himself was standing beside Daniel (with his arm around his waist, mind you) was the last thing he would have imagined happening.

“Daniel! Seongwoo!” The older man stumbled eagerly over to them before tripping and falling bodily onto Daniel, who immediately reached out to steady Sungwoon.

“Wow, you’re kinda smashed,” Seongwoo said wonderingly, peering at his tiny, red-faced friend.

Sungwoon frowned at him for a moment before turning back to Daniel. “I have heard,” he announced (rather coherently, all things considered), “through the grapevine, that you have replaced Minhyunnie in our dearest Ong’s affections.”

Daniel grinned that huge, eye-swallowing grin of his as he glanced over at Seongwoo. “Yes, I do seem to have done that, don’t I?” he agreed, eyes gleaming with mirth. Seongwoo only rolled his eyes, because _not again_.

“Now, I don’t know what you want from our Seongwoo,” Sungwoon continued, seeming determined to finish off his train of thought before slinking off somewhere to pass out, “but he deserves a good guy, you know? We’ve all been using him to make people jealous and things, and now the whole uni thinks he’s a playboy, but our Ong – he deserves a _good_ guy. Someone who’ll date him for real, you know?”

And then Sungwoon actually reached out and patted Seongwoo’s cheek affectionately. It made him feel a little like crying (although that might just have been the two beers he had consumed somewhere along the way), because someone was actually on his side and willing to give Daniel his own version of _the Jisung talk_ – which, while quite unnecessary, was very much appreciated.

“I’ll take care of Seongwoo hyung,” Daniel said, all smiles despite the seriousness of his voice. “We’re for real, I promise.”

“Sure, sure.” Sungwoon nodded carelessly. “Just like _we_ were real, huh, Seongwoo?” He gave Seongwoo’s shoulder another couple of pats, before detaching himself from Daniel and wandering off in the direction of the stairs. Seongwoo and Daniel stood side-by-side silently, watching him with anxious eyes until he bumped confusedly into Taehyun, and then they turned back to each other, confident that Sungwoon was in good hands.

“It’s been a _month_ ,” Seongwoo whined dramatically, throwing himself into Daniel’s arms. “When are they going to figure out that we’re _really_ together? When is _anyone_ going to figure out that we’re really together?”

Daniel laughed delightedly, and Seongwoo was honestly slightly in love with his teeth. (He was also just generally in love with Daniel, but that was kind of a given.) “Have you really been worrying about that?” Daniel slung an arm over Seongwoo’s shoulders, pulling him close. “I mean, as long as _we_ know that _we’re_ real –” He broke off with a very mature, very attractive shrug.

“Why are you so perfect?” Seongwoo sighed, blinking lazily as he pressed forward, one hand sliding under Daniel’s shirt to splay across warm skin. Daniel’s gaze was half-lidded, almost sultry, his face inching closer to Seongwoo’s until finally, slowly, their lips met. (Daniel tasted somewhat alcoholic, but with a residual sweet aftertaste that Seongwoo had come to recognise as purely _Daniel_.)

.

.

.

**v.**

“Aw, look, the children are here!” Seongwoo cooed, as he let himself into Daniel and Jisung’s apartment. Five heads turned like clockwork at his noisy entrance, and immediately a chorus of greetings (“Hi, hyung!” “It’s Seongwoo hyung!”) rang out, leaving Jisung sighing dramatically.

“I’m trying to _tutor_ here,” he grumbled, waving Seongwoo away. “Niel is in his room. Now shoo please.”

But the next moment, Daniel bounded into the living room like an overgrown puppy, his eyes lighting up so brightly at the sight of Seongwoo that Seongwoo’s heart gave a little flip of joy. He let himself be enveloped by Daniel’s enthusiastic hug, tucking his chin comfortably onto his boyfriend’s wonderfully supportive shoulder.

“They’re _real_!” Daehwi screeched, and immediately, everything was chaos. The other four boys immediately started talking ( _yelling_ , really, because _talking_ tended to imply an indoor voice, which was certainly nowhere in existence) over each other excitedly. Seongwoo and Daniel leapt apart, looking startled at the commotion, while the whites of Jisung’s eyes were showing to a truly worrisome extent.

“I _told_ you they were for real!” Woojin was saying, poking Jihoon incessantly and looking more animated than Seongwoo had ever seen him.

“Yeah, but I was looking at the _track record_ here,” Jihoon said rationally, before giving up on being cool-headed in favour of sighing dreamily, “But they’re real. I admit it.”

“ _Kids_!” Jisung all but wailed. “Can we get back to these algebra questions? I don’t have all day, you know.” (Which was a lie, because everyone knew that Jisung would devote the rest of his life to this unruly pack of high school students if they asked for it.)

“What are you guys going on about?” Seongwoo demanded, head cocked to the side quizzically, one hand still wrapped loosely about Daniel’s wrist.

“ _You_ guys,” Jinyoung said quietly, looking oddly starry-eyed as he looked from Seongwoo to Daniel, and then back again.

“Ongniel!” Guanlin piped up (although perhaps _piped up_ wasn’t quite the right word for someone whose voice did more rumbling than piping). “That’s what Jaehwan hyung calls you guys.”

“I know,” Seongwoo said sourly, before the implications of the kids’ words suddenly hit him full in the face. His eyes widened slowly, a smile creeping onto his face as he turned to look at Daniel, wide-eyed. Daniel just looked back at him, thoroughly amused, like he’d already grasped the entire situation long before.

“Daniel,” Seongwoo said breathlessly, reaching out to shake Daniel by the shoulders (Daniel barely budged). “They believe us! They believe that we’re dating for real! Finally, _validation_! My life is complete!”

“We had our doubts at first, because you’ve fake dated basically _everyone_ else,” Daehwi admitted sheepishly, “but then we saw your _faces_ when you saw each other! They’re _so_ into each other, right, guys?” He looked around at his seated friends, who all chimed in with their blessed agreements, and Seongwoo _swore_ he could kiss them all.

He settled for kissing Daniel instead – just a quick and (unfortunately) chaste brush of lips in order to avoid scarring any present underage viewers – before settling back and smiling quietly. He wasn’t trying to be horrendously cheesy or anything, but honestly, he could just stare at Daniel’s face forever.

“Wait,” Jisung said suddenly, still perched on his seat with his brows furrowed. “What’s going on? Who’s real? _What’s_ real?”

**Author's Note:**

> I...didn't start out wanting to write Ongniel? At all? But this prompt was too dang cute:
>
>> A chronic fake dater gets a real boyfriend and of course no one believes the relationship is real
> 
> I wish I could've made it funnier tbh. I'm kind of shit at humour, but I did my best and I hope you guys enjoy!


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